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Geopolitics

How Sid Vicious Could Help A 75-Year-Old Czech Prince Become President

ABC.AU, SYDNEY MORNING HERALD (Australia), REUTERS

Worldcrunch

PRAGUE - Meet Karel Schwarzenberg, the bow-tied, 75-year-old prince who channels the Sex Pistols and wants to be president of the Czech Republic.

Born into a family that owned large amounts of Czech and Austrian lands, the Schwarzenbergs fled when the Communists took over in 1948, writes Reuters. His opponents have accused him of supporting the cause of the three million Germans who were expelled from the country after World War II., after in a televised interview he said that in today's world, the move could be seen as a war crime.

In the nation’s first direct election for presidency, Schwarzenberg has emerged as the surprise candidate and even more surprisingly, appeals most to younger voters. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that student Klara Dvorakova said “He represents the better, modern side of our nation,” after Schwarzenberg left "Mlejn", a smoky pub near Prague Castle where he often grabs a beer alongside his young supporters in t-shirts sporting his mohawked image. “He’s noble, elegant.”

photo: 4edou via instagram

ABC.AU reports that his campaign includes pop art styled posters (above), his trademark eccentric touch visible, as well as badges (below) that depict him as a punk, sporting a fuchsia-pink mohawked hairdo. One of the slogans used is “Karel for PreSIDent” in a reference to Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols.

The out-there politician, who speaks 6 languages, has been accused of being “too old” and falling asleep during tedious political meetings but he claims “I fall asleep when others talk nonsense.”

photo: piincekvia instagram

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Society

Why Every New Parent Should Travel Alone — Without Their Children

Argentine journalist Ignacio Pereyra travels to Italy alone to do some paperwork as his family stays behind. While he walks alone around Rome, he experiences mixed feelings: freedom, homesickness and nostalgia, and wonders what leads people to desire larger families.

Photo of a man sitting donw with his luggage at Athens' airport

Alone at Athens' international airport

Ignacio Pereyra

I realize it in the morning before leaving: I feel a certain level of excitement about traveling. It feels like enthusiasm, although it is confusing. I will go from Athens to Naples to see if I can finish the process for my Italian citizenship, which I started five years ago.

I started the process shortly after we left Buenos Aires, when my partner Irene and I had been married for two years and the idea of having children was on the vague but near horizon.

Now there are four of us and we have been living in Greece for more than two years. We arrived here in the middle of the pandemic, which left a mark on our lives, as in the lives of most of the people I know.

But now it is Sunday morning. I tell Lorenzo, my four-year-old son, that I am leaving for a few days: “No, no, Dad. You can’t go. Otherwise I’ll throw you into the sea.”

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